this team’s defense and post very solid numbers.

Maybe they swap him for Smoak+. I’d eat that contract and if Nolan is the badass bridge from new regime to old this should be a move we can make. With Cabrera at dh we are AL co-favorites. I’m no sabrmetrician but wouldn’t he be about a 50 run difference between him and Murphy/Garko type. Isn’t that like 7 or 8 extra wins?

Or we could settle for Carlos Guillen

After thinking about it for a day, I still just don’t get it.

sez Ryan had 37 games where he held opponents to 2 hits or less then joked about also holding the record for walks allowed (1000 more than anybody else).

Process of sale … Letter of agreement needs to be signed and says it’s going slower than it should. Would like to be confident it will get done but he’s not.

Met Chuck G thru older son Reed.

Both he and Chuck feel a major league club should be run the same way and the goal should be to have an organization that’s consistently successful.

Nolan says the baseball department has been very creative working around the parameters they have. Feels like they can be very competitive within the budget established. Kind of hinted or hoped that MLB would help them get a player they needed…just like Tom Hicks was also player specific.

Thinks market has changed and that several players have seen their value go down meaning they won’t sign until February or early March.

JD Talk – Norm praised JD for ability to bottom-feed. Nolan talked about that (without praising or criticizing JD) and then brought up Vlad. Talked about risk with those players but upside is not having future obligations with them.

Talked about his HR’s that he hit…hit one off of Don Sutton (I saw that game). Joked about giving up dingers himself to Dierker & Hooton.

Talked about saving a game in the ’69 World Series. More surprised than anybody that Gil Hodges went to him in that particular situation.

Final game in ’93 (Seattle). Said he had a good outing in Anaheim 5 days earlier. Said his elbow was bugging him while warming up and then popped (“just like a rubber band”) during the game. Stayed in the game (thought it was an adhesion that had ripped) and then threw another 98 mph pitch before shutting it down.

Snow Monkey Talk – Laughed with Norm “I could write a book called ’Living with the Snow Monkey” and then said good-bye- “We’ll see ya on down the road, Norm.”